In the Loop: April 7, 2007 Archive

(First, we've got a new podcast out, by the way. We flash back to a very weird radio segment in which I attempt to jam with a random street musician.)

We had what I'd consider one of our more interesting and contentious gatherings this week here in St. Paul. Sorry it took me a few days to write it up! (Been busy getting ready for the next show.)

On Tuesday, we were joined by a dozen members of our network at the Chatterbox Pub. I floated the ideas we're thinking about for this next show: What makes people get off their couch and protest? Why are so many of us reluctant to take a stand? What is it about that moment when we decide we're going to switch from passive to active?

The group seemed to quickly divide into two pretty distinct camps, depending on how they interpreted our questions. One camp was most clearly interested in speaking out, then and there, about the current war and their...frustration...with our president. The other struggled to address the nuance of our topic -- considering protest as a broad aspect of human nature, rather than its meaning for so many in this specific moment in time.

It made it clear to me one of the challenges with this show we're taking on for next time: It can be extremely difficult to separate people's passions about a particular issue from the broader theme we're going at. Our task is to try to keep things personal and concrete with this next show - and I think we've got some material that will help do the trick.